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Benjamin Netanyahu scores majority needed to form government

By Nick GassIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has secured the
requisite majority of parliamentary members to form a government,
according to reports from the country’s media. Israeli President Reuven
Rivlin continued to meet with factions Monday.

Representatives
from Kulanu — a crucial centrist swing party — met with Rivlin to
recommend that the Likud party’s Netanyahu be tasked with forming a new
government, giving the current prime minister the absolute majority of
61 votes in his favor.

“We nominate Netanyahu and the broader the base of the
coalition the better it will be for all of us,” said party leader Moshe
Kahlon, according to the Jerusalem Post.Rivlin
was also scheduled to meet Monday with party representatives from
Yisrael Betenyu and Meretz to get their nominations for prime minister.The
president met with Likud, Zionist Union, Jewish Home, Shas, United
Torah Judaism and Joint List factions on Sunday, according to The Times of Israel,
with 51 of 88 Knesset members he met with recommending Netanyahu to
lead the next government. Kulanu would put Netanyahu over the top.The
Zionist Union, led by Netanyahu opponent Isaac Herzog, and the Joint
List, composed of four Arab parties, were the only two factions with
which Rivlin met that declined to support the prime minister.